Jace's POV:
I was still puzzled over how it turned out this way.
I mean, a few hours ago I'd been blissfully happy with my mate at my side. Dare I say it? In love. The wedding ring that my mother had given me burned in my pocket from the moment that I got here.
A tear dropped fell from my cheek into the steep waters below. I was standing on the edge of the cliff. The sky was cloudy, almost angry, matching my mood. I took another step closer to my death.
My mate didn't want me. True, it was I who had left her, but I could see it in her face. Digust. Hatred for what I had done to her brother. There was a million and one ways that that could've gone better. I could've apologized. I could've left the car. Anything but bringing him near death.
I wanted to be anything but like my parents, really. My uncle showed me a pathway and I had been following it, but somehow...somehow I got off track.
I was in a daze, really. I noticed that my cheeks were soaked, probably from crying, and that the wind ruffled my unkempt hair. I noticed that there was this huge, unbearable pain in my chest. Like a heart attack that went on forever.
I heard screaming that chilled me to the bone and froze.
That was my Zoe.
As she screamed and screamed I walked closer and closer to the cliffside. She didn't deserve me. She deserved better. Taylor was still available, he'd make her happy even though he was of a different species. He was safe and I...
I was bad. I could see it in Paul's eyes sometimes, the way he looked at me. Like I was the one who nearly killed the love of his life while she was pregnant with my mate.
Now I was at the edge. I looked down into the rough waters, willing myself to move, to make the pain stop.
I willed myself for days. Standing there, for days, crying, and not even feeling the exhaustion. My eyes wouldn't close.
Eventually, I heard a sound behind me. A wind carried the scent and I knew who it was before he spoke.
"I'm tempted to push you down there myself." Leo grunted from behind me. His voice was laced with pain but he kept a strong front.
I swallowed and licked my dry, cracking lips. "Please do it."
"Allow me," Damon said, stepping forward. He wasn't putting up a strong front at all. In fact, he sounded like he was crying harder than me.
"Damon, stop." Leo ordered.
"No, Leo!" He shouted suddenly. He grabbed me by my shoulder and spun me around. I looked at him emotionessly. He looked like he'd lost sleep, and there were dried tears on his cheeks.
"Now you listen here, damnit. My baby sister is in pain. And there's nothin' nobody can do about it. Nobody but you. Do you understand how hurt she is?"
"She'll be fine--"
I was cut off with a hard punch to the face. The pain barely registered as I stumbled backwards. He caught me and set me right, close to a snarl.
There were little rivers of tears pouring down his face. "You don't see her, Jace. You didn't catch her just before she collapsed. You didn't have to hold her hands back while she tried to claw her heart out, to stop the pain. Nobody in the house can sleep. I still have nightmares about her screaming. Now, I will tell you one more time: do something."
"Please, Jace." Art was suddenly beside him. He looked a little banged up but he was all right. "Please."
"Delilah nearly miscarried because of how upset Zoe was, you know that? Imagine that, Jace. Imagine your mate's baby dying because of some idiot that broke your sister's heart."
I closed my eyes. And I left.
I landed in Zoe's bedroom. It was dark, the curtains drawn.
She was in the corner, shaking. She looked at me with wide eyes while I looked her over, my heart sticthing itself and putting it back together.
"I'm so, so, sorry." I whispered.
She was silent for a long time.
"Me too." She finally said. Neither of us moved.
"Where have you been?" Tears welled in her eyes. She looked so vulnerable, not like the Zoe I knew. The Zoe that was. I did that to her. I destroyed her. I shattered her confidence, and her almost-annoying stubborness, and her bossiness, and everything else that made Zoe Wolfe, Zoe Wolfe.
And it was up to me to get that back.
"I wanted to kill myself," I said honestly.
"That was selfish of you." She sniffed.
"I know."
She finally stood up. My eyes trailed the curves of her small, slight body. She was wearing an old shirt that I'd worn, and baggy basketball shorts. Her feet were bare as she softly padded toward me.
Her fist drew back, and even though I knew what was coming I didn't stop her. He fist slammed into my nose. I heard it crack and I was pretty sure that it was broken, but that didn't matter when she flung herself into my arms, sobbing.
"You're never going to leave me again, Jace McArthur, do you understand me?"
And even though it was bleeding, I buried my nose into her hair. "I do."
* * *
"Marry me?" I asked after a time. We had sunken to the ground, moved the beanbags to the side, and pressed together as close as we could get.
"Yes," she whispered, pressing her lips to mine again.
And though I knew nothing was perfect, I felt, with a startling certainty, that everything was going to be fine.
